25.15.2 Creating a Table

To create a text-based table from scratch, type M-x
table-insert. This command prompts for the number of table columns,
the number of table rows, cell width and cell height. The cell width
and cell height do not include the cell borders; each can be specified
as a single integer (which means each cell is given the same
width/height), or as a sequence of integers separated by spaces or
commas (which specify the width/height of the individual table
columns/rows, counting from left to right for table columns and from
top to bottom for table rows). The specified table is then inserted
at point.

The table inserted by M-x table-insert contains special text
properties, which tell Emacs to treat it specially as a text-based
table. If you save the buffer to a file and visit it again later,
those properties are lost, and the table appears to Emacs as an
ordinary piece of text. See the next section, for how to convert it
back into a table.